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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Gaining MOMENTUM with Cassandra Carr

MOMENTUM
by Cassandra Carr

Book three in the Buckin’ Bull Riders series.

Marco D’Allesandro has a destiny he wants no part of—running his family’s
Italian olive oil empire. Against his family’s wishes, he moves to America to
pursue his dream of becoming a professional bull rider and is at the pinnacle
of his career, but his family wants him home. Things only get more complicated
when he meets Natalie Webster, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed angel who’s got
problems of her own.

Their
chemistry is explosive from the beginning, and both find themselves in a
situation they never thought they would—they’re falling in love. Natalie has had
a rough time of it lately, and it’s tempting to let naturally protective Marco
take care of her. Both in and out of bed. Marco discovers he relishes the role
and wants to keep Natalie close. Really close.

But
Natalie’s situation in life and Marco’s continued battle with his family
threaten to tear them apart. Neither of them was looking for forever, but might
have found their true destiny in each other.

Marco
D’Allesandro scrambled from the dirt and leapt onto the rail, grateful for the
bullfighters as they diverted the beast’s attention away from him. Once safely
atop, he turned toward the scoreboard. He was the last rider of the day and
needed an eighty-nine to win. He’d stayed on the full eight seconds, so his
chances were good. The bull he’d drawn was a tough one, which would help.

I
wish the judges would hurry up.

His
fellow rider and brother, Paolo, clapped him on the shoulder.

“Nice
ride, amico.”

“Thanks.”
Marco didn’t spare him a glance, his eyes glued to the scoreboard.

Come
on…

The
announcer finally spoke. “Folks, it looks as if the Italian Stallion had
another good night.” Marco’s face broke out in a grin as Paolo clapped him on
the shoulder again. “Marco D’Alessandro has scored a ninety even on The
Undertaker. Congratulations to our second-place finalist, Brady Parrish, and
third-place finalist, Randy Suzan.”

Marco
turned and swung his legs over the fence. He was about to drop to the other
side when a flash of purple caught his attention. He scanned the crowd and then
his world tilted on its axis. There, standing in the top-most row of the lower
bowl of the arena, was the most beautiful woman Marco had ever seen. That was
saying something, considering his Italian upbringing.

It was hard to tell how tall she was, but her lean curves were emphasized by a
tight pair of black jeans and that purple top that caught his attention
earlier. Dark-blonde straight hair streaked with lighter shades, most likely
from being out in the sun, fell to her waist. When she smiled at someone near
her his heart went into his throat. He had to know who she was.

He’d jumped from the railing and into the crowd before he even realized he was
chasing her, but he wasn’t about to let this one get away. Almost all the women
in Italy had dark eyes and hair and blondes fascinated him. People tried to
stop him to congratulate him on his win, but he kept his eyes on the woman as
she turned onto the stairs to get to the bottom of the section.

Luckily Marco was able to reach a point where he could intercept her as she
exited the area and waited, his breath coming in short pants as if he’d run a
marathon. When she got close she looked up, and her light-blue eyes widened as
she took him in. She kept walking and he tracked her with his gaze. She reached
the bottom and he put a hand on the sleeve of her Western-style shirt.

“May I speak with you?” His padre had taught him to be respectful of women, and
though there were few decent things Marco had learned from his overbearing
father, who was currently pushing hard for Marco to return to Italy to run the
family business, that lesson had stuck. Her eyebrows, with hair so light they
were nearly invisible, drew down, but she agreed and allowed him to steer her a
little to the side, away from the exiting crowd. “My name is Marco
D’Alessandro. I would like to know your name as well.”

“Um, sure. My name is Natalie. Natalie Webster.”

He realized he was still holding on to her sleeve when she glanced down, and he
quickly removed his hand, offering it for her to shake. Natalie took it and a
jolt of something rushed straight up his arm as their hands touched.

“Will you allow me to buy you dinner?”

“Dinner?”

“Yes. I just won this event and I want to celebrate with a beautiful woman.”

Whereas a line like that would’ve worked on many Italian women and most of the
buckle bunnies he normally encountered on tour, Natalie shook her head. “Look,
I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I’m not here hoping to find a
boyfriend.”

Boyfriend? I only asked her to dinner.

“That is good, because I am not in search of a girlfriend.”

“I’m also not interested in a one-night stand, so if that’s what you’re after—”

“I am sorry, did I offend you?”

Natalie sighed and Marco watched as she chewed on her lip for a minute. He
could think of far better ways to make her mouth look abused, but figured given
her recent statements she wouldn’t handle his flirting well, so he stayed
quiet.

“You didn’t offend me. I’m here to work.”

“You work for the tour?”

“No.”

“A reporter?”

“No. I’m following the tour for a couple of weeks. I’m interested in learning
about bull riding so I can try out for the female tour. It’s just, I don’t want
to give you the wrong impression. I’m here to watch, listen and learn.”

“Then have dinner with me. You can quiz me.” When she looked doubtful he added,
“I will be a perfect gentlemen.” He turned the full force of the smile his
parents had spent a fortune in dental work on and her eyes softened.

That’s what I wanted.

“All right. But just dinner.”

“Just dinner,” he agreed. For now. “Wait here. I will go get my check and my
gear and come to collect you within twenty minutes.”

She looked a little stunned but agreed to wait. Marco knew girls in America
weren’t used to having the man take the lead, but he didn’t know any other way
to behave. After rushing to collect his winnings, he made his way as quickly as
possible back to the riders’ area, taking off the protective vest he was still
wearing as he walked.

He exchanged high-fives with a couple of the guys before grabbing his rope and
winding it around his arm and shoulder. Turning to Paolo, he said, “I’ve got
dinner plans. I’ll see you tomorrow, though.”

“Dinner plans, eh? With the hot blonde I saw you talking to?” His brother
smirked, knowing Marco couldn’t resist blondes, and Marco nodded. There was no
reason to hide it.

“Yes. She wants to become a bull rider and I told her I would give her a few
tips.”

“Tips. Right.” His brother grinned then and Marco returned the smile. If he had
anything to say about it those tips would be given in bed after he’d wrenched a
couple of orgasms out of his beautiful Natalie and had one or two himself. His
cock was totally behind that decision and hardened inside his jeans. Natalie
had made it clear she only wanted dinner, and if that’s how she wanted to play
it, fine. He could be a patient man when it was called for, and she looked to
be worth his trouble.

Glancing
at his Rolex, he whistled. “Got to go. Later, amico.” Before he could get
stopped by any of the other riders, he packed up the last of his gear and threw
the duffle over his shoulder. Making his way back to the seating area, he
planned out what he would say. Natalie had mentioned she would be following
them around for a while. That was plenty of time to convince her to take a ride
on the Italian Stallion. The hunt was on.